On the 11th of June, W.O.M.E.N in Iceland celebrated the People’s Meeting at The Nordic House by holding a symposium called ‘Approved or not approved’ where the main topic was the recognition of immigrants education obtained abroad.
At the symposium attendees listened to the experiences of immigrants here that have not had their education accepted here in Iceland and the difficulties they have faced due to this lack of recognition. It is apparent that the recognition of education matters to the lives of immigrants trying to integrate and make their life here in Iceland.
During this symposium there was a panel that consisted of representatives from various institutions in Iceland including the Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Ministry of Interior, Directorate of Health, ENIC/NARIC and Efling (Union) who answered questions from attendees. The discussions were informative and entertaining.
Attendees also had the pleasure of watching a short documentary called ‘Setjast að’ which was the B.A project done by a small group of students at the Icelandic Academy of Arts. The documentary is a short collection of experiences of foreign women living in Iceland along with some interesting information collected by the students about immigrants in Iceland.
At the end of the meeting the attendees where split into two groups where they had the chance to discuss the topics and possible solutions of problems that were brought up at the symposium.
W.O.M.E.N in Iceland would like to thank all attendees for their participation.